However, several times as a pedestrian, I have been bumped or hit by runners cutting in after passing me. On Saturday, June 23, I was hit on the hand by a runner. That hand is already painful as a result of arthritis; the knock to it only made the pain worse. Please could runners consider they are using a footpath shared by non-runners who are equally entitled to use it.

Contrary to frequent reports Eurobodalla Shire Council plans to “replace the current 50m pool with a 25m pool”, the plan includes a 25m x 10-lane pool, plus a 17m x 10m warm water pool, toddlers and leisure pool, a water play splash pool, tower and water slides.

The total water surface area of the current three pools at the Batemans Bay Swimming Centre is approximately 785 square metres. The proposed pools have a combined water surface area of approximately 1300 square metres. This extra area will cater for a greater proportion of the community in separate pools at different temperatures, and will be open all year round.

Many of older and disabled residents, toddlers, and children learning to swim find the water in the current pools too cold for much of the six months the centre is open.

The council says: “Lap swimmers need a pool with water temperature around 26 degrees so they don’t overheat. People using a therapy pool require 33 to 34 degrees so that they remain warm while exercising. Toddlers and small children in learn-to-swim classes require a pool that is 30 to 32 degrees.” These groups can all be accommodated at the same time in appropriate water temperatures, without interfering with each other. Children can enjoy the toddler pool, leisure pool and splash pool.

While a 50m pool would suit a relatively small number, the affordable plan is to have an all-inclusive facility to cater for a larger number of residents and visitors all year round, rather than an under-utilised pool complex available for only six-months of the year.

Anyone who saw the video of conditions on the death ship carrying Australian sheep to be slaughtered in another country would have been horrified.  Such a method of transporting animals for food is unnecessary when there is a cost-effective, more humane alternative pioneered by Thomas Sutcliffe Mort almost 150 years ago.

Mort may not be remembered by many, but he was a successful entrepreneur in Sydney after he arrived from London in a bid to make his fortune in the colonies.  He became a powerful landowner in the Bodalla district from 1860, where he eventually owned 38,000 acres, ran as a tenanted dairy estate. He was developed refrigeration capable of keeping meat frozen for long enough to be sold in London. He died of pneumonia in Bodalla, just two years from seeing the realization of his dream.    

 A grand church in Bodalla was built in his memory.  On a tablet is inscribed:  “A colonist and a citizen of keen foresight and unselfish service, the soul of honour, a faithful and generous churchman, a neighbour of unfailing  kindness to rich and poor alike, his simplicity and largeness of heart gained for him the friendship and love of men of all classes.” There is also a bronze statue of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort in Macquarie Place Sydney. The inscription there also highlights his care for the welfare of his fellow citizens.

It’s not hard to believe such a man as Mort would have opposed cruel treatment for the sake of foreign markets, especially when the refrigerated sea transport he pioneered presents a humane and economic alternative.